Revealed: Hotspots for West Midlands parking tickets

The dubious honour of the fines capital goes to West Bromwich High Street.

Across the nine council areas covered by the Express & Star, around 90,000 tickets are dished out every year – equivalent to at least 246 every single day.

At about £35 a time that is more than £8,630 each day in income for councils who catch people for either parking badly or outstaying their welcome.

Parking fines vary based on different things including whether or not they are paid within two weeks.

Today the Express & Star can reveal the top 20 fines spots of each of the nine local authorities.

Parking wardens in Sandwell are some of the most prolific across the Black Country, south Staffordshire and Wyre Forest, raking in £637,221 for the council with 26,185 fines.

Smethwick's High Street and Little Lane in West Bromwich are also fertile hunting ground with drivers who either have not paid enough or did not get back to the car in time.

Sandwell Council's deputy leader Councillor Mahboob Hussain said: "Our parking service doesn't make a profit as we invest the fines back into the running, maintenance and improvement of our car parks.

"Parking restrictions are there to keep traffic moving and often to stop people from parking dangerously. I know of occasions when illegally parked cars have blocked access for emergency vehicles.

"These roads are the worst areas for people flouting the rules, and obviously are going to have the highest number of parking fines.

"We have put in place short-stay tickets for West Bromwich High Street to help people who are just nipping to the shop, so they can pay 30p for a ticket for 20 minutes if it's a quick visit.

"Other places that are high on the list for parking fines are residential areas where the people who live there are driven to distraction by inconsiderate and illegal parking.

"I'm sure they'd agree people who block up their streets illegally deserve a parking ticket."

Lichfield's Bird Street and Stafford's Mill Street also result in fines into four figures, while Wolverhampton's short stay car park on Fold Street has hundreds of drivers a year who appear to have stayed longer than they were prepared to pay for.

The 865 drivers caught over the past year might end up increasing if the city council goes ahead with plans to charge on Sundays and bring back controversial night time charges two years after they were scrapped.

Parking charges raked in £3 million for cash-strapped councils over the past year.

Wolverhampton City Council was the top earner in the Black Country, bringing in £930,000 while Dudley Council made £409,000. In Staffordshire, Lichfield made a £1 million profit, Stafford raked in £770,000 and Cannock Chase made £168,000. Wyre Forest brought in £420,000.

Nationally, 52 of the 353 local authorities in England recorded negative numbers.

South Staffordshire Council made a loss of £82,000 and Sandwell Council lost £17,000.

Walsall Council made a loss of £286,000.

Sandwell was the most prolific council for parking fines, dishing out 26,185 of them last year. But this was a drop compared to 2012, when 29,780 were issued. Walsall Council handed out 14,657 fines between January and November 2012, slightly more than the same period the following year, when 14,295 tickets were issued. Dudley Council hands out more than 10,000 tickets every year.

In Cannock Chase 5,112 tickets brought in £111,974 for the district council while Lichfield Council received £161,214 from 7,057 fines. South Staffordshire Council handed out 1,552 fines in a year while Wyre Forest Council issued 4,111 between January and November 2013.

The top sites and number of parking penalties issued at each across our region:

SANDWELL

• High Street, West Bromwich 2,380

• High Street, Smethwick 1,530

• Little Lane, West Bromwich 1,388

• West Bromwich Bull St. Multi-Storey Car Park, Zone C 1,164

• Bearwood Road, Smethwick 751

WOLVERHAMPTON

• Fold Street car park 865

• Broad Street car park 855

• Red Lion Street 827; Wulfruna Street 731

• Cleveland Street 694

WALSALL

• Lichfield Street 784

• Station Street (Walsall) 773

• Wisemore 629

• Bridge Street 544

• High Street (Walsall) 532

DUDLEY

• High Street (Pensnett) 578

• Castle Street (Dudley) 453

• High Street (Dudley) 411

• Wolverhampton Street (Dudley) 337

• High Street (Stourbridge) 327

CANNOCK CHASE

• Beecroft Car Park 506

• Brunswick Road 495

• Backcrofts car park 443

• Forge Road car park 409

• Church Street Cannock 327

STAFFORD

• Mill Street Stafford 1,007

• Doxey Road East Bank Short Stay 990

• Broad Street Short Stay 589

• Tenterbanks Short Stay 427

• Doxey Road West Bank Short Stay 416

LICHFIELD

• Bird Street Car Park 1148

• Friary Inner Car Park 444

• Lombard Street Car Park 425

• Bore Street 424

• Tamworth Street 388

• Greenhough Road 329

SOUTH STAFFORDSHIRE

• Market Street, Penkridge 171

• Baggeridge Country Park 130

• Crown Bridge Penkridge 125

• Church Road Penkridge 117

• Council Offices, Codsall 89

WYRE FOREST

• Weavers Wharf Car Park, Kidderminster 492

• Dog Lane Car Park, Bewdley 344

• Bromsgrove Street Car Park, Kidderminster 339

• Market Street Car Park, Kiderminster 229